Until We Meet Again
by PikachuFan10044
Summary: It has been fifteen years since the war ended. Since I've been back to Twelve. Since I've seen her. What will I find when I go back?
1. Chapter 1

**WARNING - SPOILER ALERT! THIS STORY TAKES PLACE AFTER ALL THREE BOOKS!**

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><p>CHAPTER 1<p>

It has been fifteen years since the war ended. By now they must have rebuilt Twelve. I didn't know for sure, I haven't been back since i made that propo with her. I work and live in District Two now. I miss her. I wish I could see her. But her mentor, Haymitch, told me it was not allowed. I have not fallen in love with anyone else since her. I miss the way we use to hunt together. I loved how the birds grew silent when she sang. I don't know if Peeta is any better from when I last saw him, but I hope he is treating her right. She has lost so much, and has been through so much more. I am glad i met her. She changed my life. I know that she probably sees me on TV from time to time, if she watches it that is, because I work with the mayor. I wonder if she ever thinks about me. She is always on my mind.

I was at my house in Two when my mother told me that _her_ mother called. She is in Four, working at a hospital she help build after the war. She hasn't been to Twelve since the bombing, and because Prim died, she won't go back. The memories are just too much for her to bear. She says that she always talks to Katniss, and wondered if I have wanted to. When I call back, she tells me Katniss is doing fine; though she always has nightmares about everything. "She doesn't say it, but I can tell that she misses you," she said.

"I want to see her, but Haymitch said I was not allowed to," I told her.

"Maybe he only said that because she wanted you to kill her after she shot Coin."

That would make sense because he probably would think I came to kill her if I ever saw her again. "Maybe," I said. Or maybe he's afraid that I would try to steal her from Peeta if I went back. After another twenty minutes or so, she gave me the number and we said our good-byes.

"Are you gonna call her, Gale?" asked Possy. Possy is my little sister, and she was always fond of Katniss. You wouldn't believe how upset she was when we moved to Two and found out we wouldn't be able to see her. But then again, she was twelve at the time.

"I don't know, Possy. She has probably forgotten all about me by now." She gives me a look that said she didn't believe it. "What?"

"You know there is no way she could ever forget you. You guys were best friends for six years before the war ended," she stated.

I laughed at her. Possy was always hoping that I would marry Katniss, no matter how old she got. "Maybe I'll call her. It's been so long."

"Well you better hurry. If she has waited fifteen years to hear from you, she might just might stop waiting and yell at you when you finally do call," she said in her matter-of-fact tone.

"Okay, okay, I get it jeez. Now hurry up. I think mom is waiting for you to help with dinner."

As she left the room, I headed upstairs to my room. I placed the number I received from my phone call with Katniss's mother on my nightstand and stared at it for a long while. Would I ever be able to get over her? Maybe it was time I visited my home in Twelve.

I would go hunt in the morning. Just to clear my mind and think about all of this some before I go through with it.

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><p>"Listen," I heard myself say. "Getting a knife should be pretty easy, but you need to get your hands on a bow. That's your best chance."<p>

"They don't always have bows," she said. Everything started to materialize then. I remembered this instantly. I was eighteen and Katniss just took Prim's place in the seventy-fourth Hunger Games. We are talking in the Justice Building. _Why am I dreaming of this now? _I thought.

"Then make one. Even a weak bow is better than no bow at all," I told her. She's keeping up that front that she always had around others. She's trying to be strong, for Prim's sake.

"Katniss, it's just hunting. You are the best hunter that I know."

"It's not just hunting. They're armed. They think." She's scared. I could see it in her eyes.

"So do you. And you've had more practice. Real practice," I tried to convince her. "You know how to kill."

"Not people," she said. The Peacekeepers are back to take me away. She clung to my hand and starts to panic. "Don't let them starve!"

"I won't! You know I won't! Katniss remember I––" I yelled, but they yanked us apart and slammed the door shut. Damn. Now she would never know that I love her.

The scene changed and next thing I knew, I was standing in a familiar place: my old home in the Seam.

"And what did you say?" I heard coming from the TV. It's her interview, the one where Peeta confessed his love for my Catnip.

"I swore I would," I heard her say.

"I bet you did," Caesar said as he touches her shoulder. The buzzers go off. It's Peeta's turn.

"Well, there is this one girl. I've had a crush on her ever since I could remember. But I'm pretty sure she didn't know I was alive until the reaping." This was it. Where I get my heart ripped out again. "I don't think it's going to work out. Winning...won't help in my case," he said.

"Why ever not?" Caesar asked him, mystified.

"Because...because...she came here with me."

Then it was like everything went into fast forward. I saw all of that Hunger Game in a flash. Every kiss between her and Peeta was heartbreaking. And then I started screaming.

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><p>I awoke face planted on the floor. I untangled myself from the blankets and sat up on the bed. <em>Just a nightmare<em>, I thought. I picked up the phone and dialed the number on the nightstand. Three rings. I held my breath.

"Hello?" said a familiar voice.

"Hey Catnip."

"Gale?" I could almost see the confusion and happiness on her face. I guess I deserved that.

"Your mom called. She's the one who gave me the number. Sorry, I shouldn't have called," I stammered out. "I just wanted to hear your voice." Before she could say anything else, I hung up the phone.

END CHAPTER 1


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

I took a deep breath of the fresh air. I ran a hand through my hair and opened my eyes. I was not that far from the fence, but I could barely see the district. "What was I thinking last night? I shouldn't have called. She probably still hates me for designing the bomb that killed Prim," I whispered to myself.

"You should go see her. You may feel that she forgot about you, but you were the only one that she could be herself around."

I turn around, stunned. My mother stood ten feet away from me. She didn't know I was the one who designed the bomb, and she never followed me into the woods, always been scared of it. So why now? "You should be at home," I told her, unable to think of anything else to say.

"I'm here because I heard you up late last night. I know you called her, Gale. I'll support you with whatever you choose, but I still feel that you should go see her in Twelve."

And with that, she walked away, instantly engulfed into the trees and bushes. I sat on the ground and look at the place she stood. She thinks I should be with her as well. But if anyone were to out right ask her, she would never admit it.

Maybe she was right though. I should go to her. "I'll be crazy for admitting this though," I chuckled at myself.

Katniss would kill me for always thinking of her and never of myself. And because of all the pain that she has had to endure, I will never stop worrying about her. She was my very reason for living, even if I didn't know it before that one New Year's Day. I remember that day like it was yesterday.

She was sitting at Greasy Sae's station at the Hob. Eating the soup that we traded for. Darius was teasing her like he always did, but that time, I had realized it bothered me.

Those eyes of her's when she got embarrassed, were like gems that you would never be able to find in a lifetime. Her rosy cheeks would blush when someone flirted with her.

She never thought that she was pretty, or worth liking, but most of the boys in the district would tell a different story. No one would tell her that though. Always afraid she'd shoot an arrow though them if they did.

I hadn't thought about that day in a long time. Must have been a few months at the most, but it always has a way of working itself back into my mind, demanding that I paid attention to it.

And every time it did, I always realized that after I met her, I wouldn't stay with anyone long because they weren't her, and they could never live up to those standards.

As I stood up, I took one last look at the place that almost became a home for me in the past fifteen years. It would never be home to me though. She is my home, and maybe it is time I went back. _Maybe_, I thought, _just maybe she has missed me all these years..._

I pushed that thought out of my head, not wanting to get my hopes up and end up having them crushed. After all, I have neither spoken to her nor seen her in all of those long, long years.

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><p>I stayed up late that night, thinking over dinner in my head. I hadn't eaten much. And I told my family that I would be heading to District Twelve the day after tomorrow.<p>

They had been excited. Just like I thought they would be.

My mother insisted that I would pack and prepare for the flight all day tomorrow. She also told me that she had made a dress for Katniss that she would like me to give her.

Possy wanted to go with me. "I need to go see her alone this time," I told her. "Maybe next time I go, you can come." _But who knows if there really will be a next time_, I added in my head silently, not wanting to hurt her feelings.

"Not fair, Gale! I haven't seen her in years either!" she pouted. She stalked off to her room, but only to come right back out and say she was sorry and that she understood why I had to go alone.

"Possy, would you be a dear and help the boys with the dishes?" my mother asked, before she headed to the living room, motioning me to follow. Once we were by ourselves, she turned to me and said "You do realize that you may or may not come back depending what happens when you see her? Or whether you may or may not return to Twelve if you come back?"

One of her eyebrows was raised, as if she already knew the answer to these questions, but wanted me to make it clear for her.

"Yes, I understand," I said cooly, surprising myself. I haven't been that sure in a long while.

"I'm glad you understand, so I'm going to make it clear that I don't want you mentioning to any of your siblings," she said in a firm tone. "I don't want them to feel like they are loosing you to someone else."

"I know, and I would never do that to them."

That was the last thing that was said before I headed up to my room so that I could rest for tomorrow.

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><p>The next morning I dressed and packed a duffel bag with clothes for a couple of months, my hunting gear, and any other essentials I would need. Running out of the house with my bag, I headed for the landing strip where the District keeps all of their aircrafts.<p>

I told my family that I would be leaving a day later because I didn't want to see their faces when I left. I had to leave without them there.

I had left a note on the kitchen table:

_Dear Mom,_

_I know I said I was leaving tomorrow, but I couldn't bear to see all of your faces when I left. It would only keep me here for a while longer. I have already waited to long to go back, so when you find this, I want you to know that I love you and thank you for pushing me to go. See you all when I get back._

_Love,_

_Gale H._

END CHAPTER 2


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